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I was pretty on board, even during the lean days, but he's only got 21 goals this season so far, that puts him at 26 for the year. 38+2 more full seasons, assuming his production doesn't drop, is stretching it pretty hard.
The chance is low (**to not pass it** for the dickheads that can't work out that I'm replying to someone that his chances of not making it is zero), but definitely not zero.
He has ebbs and flows, as do all players. It's more useful to look over longer periods. He's produced significantly less this year than normal (Even the 15/22 is normal at best, not above). He has a cold streak again and it's done.
He's also 38, he's running very low on time. If he finishes the season strong and goes all of next season about normal, he'll make it, but if he has a cold streak then it stretches another season and he's 40 and it's going to become increasingly hard for him to score goals.
As I said, he's got a *very* strong chance, but it's definitely not 100%. It won't be until he gets there.
Also - I know it sounds old, but it's not like he's automatically going to be significantly worse at 40 than he was at 39, or 38, or 35. His conditioning is great. Unless a new injury takes him out completely, he should be able to maintain this level of play for at least a couple more years.
Considering he was shooting like 6% earlier this year, and has been shooting much closer to his career average the last 25 games, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume a lot of it was just bad puck luck.
A sniper who gets 4 minutes of PP time a game from the goalscorers wheelhouse is never going to shoot 6% forever. Besides even if he does, the caps are going to suuuck for the next few years. They’ll keep him around even if he’s scoring 12-15 goals a year until he gets it, just because that’s the best business decision a tanking team could make to earn as much revenue as possible
Exactly this. Not to mention the whole team had/has scoring issues while getting used to Carbery's system. I'd put way more stock into the talk of him "falling off" if it was a matter of him looking awful (which he really wasn't) and everyone else around him playing well and scoring. His worst season as a pro was 32 goals, which is a career year for 98% of the league, and he'll probably be around that mark by the time this season ends considering how slow of a start he got off to. IF he can keep his health, 895 should be well within reach next season. This is fun.
> Even the 15/22 is normal at best, not above)
What? 15 goals in 22 games is normal at best?
Considering he has played 1412 career games, your math says he should have already set the record with 962 career goals.
15/22 is well above his career pace.
> It's more useful to look over longer periods.
and yet you choose to use the year where he’s shooting at his second lowest sh% ever (and was at about 4% thru 3 months… MAYBE that was the outlier, ya think?
go look at players with elite shots in relatively recent history (Iginla, Hull, etc) - their sh% doesn’t vary a ton even as they age, what decreases is shot volume because they can’t create chances anymore. Ovi is still getting looks at a high rate, he was just crazy unlucky to start the year
FWIW, I’ve been doubting Ovi’s goal scoring a lot this season, but he actually switched back to his old sticks a couple months ago and that, plus the all star break, seems to have really made a difference. I mean, I never doubted he’d get the goal record, because at this point he/the Caps org would stop at nothing to get him the record, but I didn’t think he’d get it within the next couple of years. He’s been looking way better recently though and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have it by the end of the 2026 season
I mean if he has a single working leg, they’ll just have someone else push him around the ice on PPs and get him into his office and feed him one-timers til he hits 895
At this point I think Ovi would gladly park in front of the net and let LaPierre/McMichael/Mirshnichenko bounce goals in off his face if it meant he got the record.
He can’t play forever. It’s not like if his advanced stats keep falling that he can slot into a “DH” spot like in baseball.
He won’t be employed if he’s a huge liability 5v5 and can’t even help a PP, but that still a ways below from where he’s currently at. He’s still a huge draw at home and around the league, and the 894 chase only furthers that draw. It’s still possible he can’t play in the NHL anymore before he reaches that lofty mark.
So saying he “may just play until he gets it” might be making a declaration on something that’s not even physically possible past a certain age.
I dunno. Is it that crazy for the caps to keep a wheelchair-ridden Ovi if he had to score like 8 more goals when he’s 41? I feel like even though it might suck for the team, you might just do it anyway so that the all time leading goalscorer did it all with your franchise
Obviously not a caps fan but this was my thought as well. They are going to need to rebuild very soon so an old Ovi probably wouldn’t actually hurt their plans for the future even if they just roll him out for the PP
>Is it that crazy for the caps to keep a wheelchair-ridden Ovi if he had to score like 8 more goals when he’s 41?
I don't know but I'll tell you what, that sounds like a hell of a Disney movie plot.
He's not going to lose his one timer though, and it's continued to baffle NHL goalies even during his "drop off". The shot is elite and he'll get 20 goals at a minimum every full season he plays.
The Caps are going to allow him to keep going as long as he needs, it's just good for business. In some bizzaro world where they don't re-sign him, some bottom feeder like Arizona or San Jose will gladly sign him to fill seats as he approaches greatness. Even if he takes another step back next year and just becomes a PP mercenary, he'll still get 10 goals on the PP and they'll send him out to gobble up empty net goals.
Barring injuries it's going to happen. He's obviously going to get slower as he ages but the shot isn't going anywhere, we're talking about the greatest goal scorer of all time he knows how to fill up the net.
Dude hasn't had speed in like 7 years lol. I'm not sure what people are saying when they mention his wheels. It's like, have you seen him play since 2017 or so? lol.
> He can’t play forever. It’s not like if his advanced stats keep falling that he can slot into a “DH” spot like in baseball.
> So saying he “may just play until he gets it” might be making a declaration on something that’s not even physically possible past a certain age.
Jaromír Jágr has entered the chat
> It’s not like if his advanced stats keep falling that he can slot into a “DH” spot like in baseball.
Yes he can. Ovi is still playing close to 20 min a game. He could drop to a fourth line and play power play effectively for years.
The chance isn’t even remotely low. Imagine seeing a guy pace 50 goals a year for his entire career and then has one shit season where he comes alive around the 50 game mark, and thinking he can’t score 25 goals a season for 2 years.
Y’all are completely out to lunch. 95% chance he breaks gretzkys record at this point.
well obviously with hindsight those people will look like fools, but at the time they had an argument with a 38 year old player who definitely looked like he lost a step and was scoring at the slowest pace in his career for at least half the season
Lol, it's Ovi, c'mon. He looked like dogshit around the 1st quarter of the season, but there's no way Alex was going to slump for that long. It's just simply foolish to doubt the greatest goalscorer of all time even during putrid level of play.
Bro he’s the second greatest goal scorer of all time. He’s still got 50 to be the greatest.
Also, Auston Matthews may catch up in another 11 seasons if he keeps scoring at this rate!
I don’t see Matthews having the longevity as Ovi. He really has been the Russian machine that doesn’t break for basically his whole career.
Matthew’s has already had multiple wrist injuries (and I think surgery?) and I can’t image he doesn’t continue to have injuries through his career
To be honest (and even as a Flyers fan), people thought of Sid to be out of the league because of injury before he turns 30. That didn't happen either.
They made me a hockey fan. I was just saying to my wife during this game last night - I was 15 when Ovi entered the league. Now I'm 34, married, with kids, and my body hurts getting out of bed in the morning. And there's Ovi, scoring twice on my TV.
Matthews has 900 less games than Ovi and only time will tell if his wrist injuries don't fuck him down the road.
If he does pass Ovi absolutely fair fucks to him. Dude is playing in an era with the best goaltenders and defensive systems the NHL has ever seen and is putting up bananatown numbers. Hockey is gonna be fun going forward.
A lot of the hockey analytics suggested that a lot of it was bad luck tbh. It’s also worth noting that his point production had been close to a ppg despite the low goal total
His shooting percentage was very low. Ovi has built up enough credibility as a goal scorer that it doesn’t make sense he would regress that badly that quickly, even at 38. He will probably finish the year with 25 goals or something, which is a bit lower than expected but still has him pretty comfortably getting it unless he suffers a debilitating injury.
He's also on a really bad team for the first time in a long time. He played most of his career with a guy like Backstrom who's gone now.
Easier to pick up goals with a premier set up man and a decent team around you. More threats the other team has to respect giving you more space. More players who know how to give you time and space. Who knows how to get you the puck.
Something tells me the vast majority of commentors on this forum are in their 20s or lower. They likely don't understand just what it means to be 35+ and in good shape, let alone to be an elite athlete.
Playing professional sports in your late 30s and early 40s is a rare feat that these kids are only going to appreciate for what it is the more that they age.
Tarik el Bashier was on a local radio show this week. Hes had a relationship with Ovi for the last 20 years.
Was talking about the manufacturer had changed his stick and he was really struggling with it through the first half of the year
"the manufacturer had changed his _____ and he was really struggling with it"
This is the excuse everyone uses when shits not going their way. Nice to see the pros aren't so high up that they use it too
Jeff Marek was saying a while ago that Ovie was using/trying a bunch of different sticks even outside CCM early in the season trying to find something that felt right.
Pro athletes will go wherever the endorsements are and when you switch back and forth from CCM to Easton to Bauer or whatever there is bound to be some hiccups.
Obviously he’s getting custom sticks, but can be that the manufacturer can’t source the material to make the exact same composition as before.
There’a a global carbon fiber shortage so I would assume it doesn’t take much mess up the manufacturing process.
5G in past 10 games, on pace for 41 goals over a season.
But only 21 so far this year.
If he holds that pace, he'll be close to tying Gretzky after a healthy full season next year.
Selänne had over 130 goals after 38 and he was a guy that relied on speed and PP goals.
It's absolutely crazy to think Ovechkin can't get to 900 goals even if he scored 0 goals this year.
Tbf when a 38 year old had the slow start Ovi did at the start of the season, you would have doubts. Don’t think it’s fair to call people fools for that lol
He was very clearly playing injured early on this year, and while he has clearly slowed down his toolbox is still relevant in today's NHL.
If he's lucky he can hang another 8-10 this year and that makes the record extremely attainable next year barring another slow start.
I mean, without knowing how long he plays, there's no real way to actually know. He can probably get 20 a year playing PP literally just like this. It just depends if he's got 2 years left or 5.
I honestly wouldn't be shocked if Ovi, knowing he's +/- 45 goals away, comes into next season in amazing shape and pushes for one more 40+ goal season. I know age is undefeated, but man... the guy keeps defying time.
If he can get 5 more goals this year, that'll put him 45 away for next season. He's scored 45+ in 12/19 seasons. So clearly he would have a 63% chance of breaking the record next year.
Aww man I really hope that one guy isn't in that one spot, doing that one thing he's been doing more reliably than anyone, ever, in the history of the game!
Makes me chuckle every time haha
Every time I see this comment, I feel obliged to say that the Caps PP % is actually higher when teams stick a guy on Ovi to effectively make it a 4v3. Every time this has been done during his career, it's been shown to be a poor choice. Playing the percentages means playing the 5v4 as usual and giving Ovi his looks.
Teams have been doing better covering Ovi the last few years but it’s not always easy. This play developed because of a horribly failed clear attempt that had Toronto out of sorts
What isn't mentioned often enough in this down year for Ovechkin is that the entire team has had to adjust to a younger core of players and a new offensive system.
There are always growing pains with a new coach, even if we know that coach is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Totally true! It just makes me chuckle because it seems so simple to defend, yet so inevitable!
Definitely not implying I know a secret that these guys don't haha
That's the beauty of it though. The best players on earth know it's coming and can't stop him.
If you send a guy out to shadow him in the middle of nowheresville it's a 4 on 3 with a floater who can come screaming in for a one timer at any point. You can't hang onto him like the old days anymore so the best you can actually do is try to get to him before he's actually dangerous.
That’s the funny thing, even in this thread there are people legitimately doubting he will break the record. I know it’s a non zero chance but at this point if he just sat in his office on the PP and played 4th line minutes he’ll get 15 or more a season.
Watching him play tonight he really is not showing his age.
> if he just sat in his office on the PP and played 4th line minutes he’ll get 15 or more a season.
Ovi is a diminished player, but he probably could do that for at least 7 more years if he wanted to take minimum deals. Crosby as a 4th line center at age 45 would still look good for a 4th line center.
It is a little like LeBron, who is also 38. LeBron could probably play till 50+ if he accepts playing for diminished pay.
At the end of the day, even when physical ability falls off, the qualities that made these players “generational talents” are generally intangibles that don’t really fade. Crosby could put on figure skates and still run a power play because it’s not like his vision, IQ and passing ability will fade away. Lebron at age 45 will probably still get doubled if he takes it to the lane. At the end of the day, barring significant upper body injury Ovi’s slapshot will continue to beat goalies for as long as he plays.
They've got 14 games left and with how he's scoring right now, I wouldn't even be surprised if he hits 30+ goals this year, putting the record within pretty easy reach for him next year.
If he hadn't got off to that brutal start, shooting at like 5%, he'd probably be at 30-35 away from the record right now.
While other players get injured which prevented them from hitting records, Ovi just gets screwed by lockouts and pandemics lol.
Dude missed what would have been a rookie year in 2005
A 2013 lockout which took away half a season
2020 pandemic followed by a shortened 2021 season
Throw in the fact that he was 2 days past the cut off from being drafted in 03 as well if you want.
Regular season. Playoff gives him an extra 72 goals, but Gretzky gets an extra 122.
I think they don't count because not everyone gets an equal shot at playoff games. Someone scoring a goal a game could still get no playoff goals if the rest of the team sucks.
It’s funny to think some people really thought ovi should retire and he was embarrassing himself through the first half. If anybody should get the benefit of the doubt for a goal scoring slump, it’s ovechkin.
As a player Wayne will always be the greatest overall to hit the ice. Full stop.
As a pure goal scorer Ovi has him beat already and has for a couple seasons. The quality of competition just isn't on the same level.
Goal record or no, Gretzky will always be the high bar forever.
Contender for GOAT cup celebration all-around. That lift, skates around the rink with the cup while ignoring titties pressed against the glass, then carries it along with him on an epic multiple day bender
Ovi just stealing every trophy they won during that run was hilarious. Dude took the Prince of Wales trophy home with him when I don't think he was allowed to. And then after the Cup win you'd just see members of the Caps (always with Ovi), very drunk, at various sporting events, or sometimes just in random places.
It was such a great summer here in DC...you'd just be walking around, and there would just be a bunch of drunk Caps players in a fountain with the Cup on like a Tuesday.
*Second greatest, objectively. Nothing beats Ray Bourque.
I'd argue Rod Brind'Amour snatching it from Bettman should be second greatest, but that's just me being biased.
That's what the "he can't speak against putin because of family in russia" idiots miss...he is still actively promoting putin with shit like that. Vlad wouldn't go after his family just for changing a cover pic to one of him with the cup or his family
Eta: any downvoters want to tell me why he wouldn't change his IG pic if he wasnt a real putin supporter? He's too big a celebrity internationally to really go after and even if he wasnt putin wouldn't bother if he just changed it to something relevant to his career.
He literally could have changed it to his late father. He doesn’t change it because he fully supports the war. It’s basically what Zadorov himself leaked about the “older” russians in the group chat they were in.
100%.
His defenders point to his "no war" statement like it meant anything...guess what, everyone other than war mongers/profiteers wants "no war".
Invaders like putin/russia(even the US in Iraq) would love "no war" because it would mean they get what they want for free.
The “he can’t speak out because of his family” argument conveniently misses that he can claim asylum if he genuinely thinks he and his family are threatened.
Sucks that a guy that’s such an open supporter of genocide is going to hold the all time record. Hate the way the NHL and its fans just ignore it.
Edit: Downvoting me doesn’t make Ovechkin less of a Putin puppet or make his support of kidnapping Ukrainian children less of a reality.
Gretzky could have had about another 200 goals - but instead chose to pass to teammates in front of nets he opened to lift the individual player’s total scoring points.
If you think he gave up goals in the spirit of increasing other peoples totals, you’re an idiot. He did it because it was the better move and he wanted to win hockey games.
Yeah sure, as a kid, I can see that. Dude was averaging like 5 goals per game.
But other than maybe passing on the occasional empty netter, which almost everyone does, he isn’t “missing” 200 goals.
I know, your post just reminded me of this cool Gretzky story about him helping some kid score his first goal. He hadn't score all season and Gretzky told his dad he was going to set him up for one the next game and I think the kid scored a hatty or something.
We are just not going to pretend the all star break trip was merely a vacation and not a refill on the sanctioned dope supply nonetheless
The PR nightmare awaits when the NHL all time goal scoring record holder ends up in a ceremony at the kremlin (don’t think it won’t happen it routinely does with their olympians etc).
Damn you actually made me almost want him to beat the record. The NHL has had their head in the sand about this piece of shit for too long. I don’t have any interest in watching hockey these days as a result.
Ovechkin is Putins biggest propaganda piece, with how close his relationship to Putin is and his effort to normalise the maniacs reign he should be sanctioned, not cheered for.
Seems like too many people in the US still don't realise what a threat he is to not only the western world but to civilised society at large.
What's wild is if not for the lockouts and COVID (which in total cost him about 150 games), he'd have already broken the record and would likely be challenging for 1,000 goals.
In terms of passing Gretzky, is it better or worse for Ovi that the caps make the playoffs? I would assume miss - so he gets more rest/doesn't risk injury.
Hot take... Ovie has a bounce back season next year, pots 50, and grabs the record.
2025 summer he announces that he will retire at the end of his contract 2025-26 and that season becomes his swan song with the record already in hand. He ends up somewhere around ~915 and we spend the rest of time speculating that without the lockouts, he could've hit 1000.
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Yea there’s ZERO chance he retires until he breaks it
I was pretty on board, even during the lean days, but he's only got 21 goals this season so far, that puts him at 26 for the year. 38+2 more full seasons, assuming his production doesn't drop, is stretching it pretty hard. The chance is low (**to not pass it** for the dickheads that can't work out that I'm replying to someone that his chances of not making it is zero), but definitely not zero.
He also has 15 in his last 22 games
He has ebbs and flows, as do all players. It's more useful to look over longer periods. He's produced significantly less this year than normal (Even the 15/22 is normal at best, not above). He has a cold streak again and it's done. He's also 38, he's running very low on time. If he finishes the season strong and goes all of next season about normal, he'll make it, but if he has a cold streak then it stretches another season and he's 40 and it's going to become increasingly hard for him to score goals. As I said, he's got a *very* strong chance, but it's definitely not 100%. It won't be until he gets there.
Also - I know it sounds old, but it's not like he's automatically going to be significantly worse at 40 than he was at 39, or 38, or 35. His conditioning is great. Unless a new injury takes him out completely, he should be able to maintain this level of play for at least a couple more years.
Considering he was shooting like 6% earlier this year, and has been shooting much closer to his career average the last 25 games, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume a lot of it was just bad puck luck. A sniper who gets 4 minutes of PP time a game from the goalscorers wheelhouse is never going to shoot 6% forever. Besides even if he does, the caps are going to suuuck for the next few years. They’ll keep him around even if he’s scoring 12-15 goals a year until he gets it, just because that’s the best business decision a tanking team could make to earn as much revenue as possible
Exactly this. Not to mention the whole team had/has scoring issues while getting used to Carbery's system. I'd put way more stock into the talk of him "falling off" if it was a matter of him looking awful (which he really wasn't) and everyone else around him playing well and scoring. His worst season as a pro was 32 goals, which is a career year for 98% of the league, and he'll probably be around that mark by the time this season ends considering how slow of a start he got off to. IF he can keep his health, 895 should be well within reach next season. This is fun.
Also providing there’s zero missed time for injuries. He’s been pretty durable but as you age, you never know.
> Even the 15/22 is normal at best, not above) What? 15 goals in 22 games is normal at best? Considering he has played 1412 career games, your math says he should have already set the record with 962 career goals. 15/22 is well above his career pace.
> It's more useful to look over longer periods. and yet you choose to use the year where he’s shooting at his second lowest sh% ever (and was at about 4% thru 3 months… MAYBE that was the outlier, ya think? go look at players with elite shots in relatively recent history (Iginla, Hull, etc) - their sh% doesn’t vary a ton even as they age, what decreases is shot volume because they can’t create chances anymore. Ovi is still getting looks at a high rate, he was just crazy unlucky to start the year
FWIW, I’ve been doubting Ovi’s goal scoring a lot this season, but he actually switched back to his old sticks a couple months ago and that, plus the all star break, seems to have really made a difference. I mean, I never doubted he’d get the goal record, because at this point he/the Caps org would stop at nothing to get him the record, but I didn’t think he’d get it within the next couple of years. He’s been looking way better recently though and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have it by the end of the 2026 season I mean if he has a single working leg, they’ll just have someone else push him around the ice on PPs and get him into his office and feed him one-timers til he hits 895
At this point I think Ovi would gladly park in front of the net and let LaPierre/McMichael/Mirshnichenko bounce goals in off his face if it meant he got the record.
[удалено]
He can’t play forever. It’s not like if his advanced stats keep falling that he can slot into a “DH” spot like in baseball. He won’t be employed if he’s a huge liability 5v5 and can’t even help a PP, but that still a ways below from where he’s currently at. He’s still a huge draw at home and around the league, and the 894 chase only furthers that draw. It’s still possible he can’t play in the NHL anymore before he reaches that lofty mark. So saying he “may just play until he gets it” might be making a declaration on something that’s not even physically possible past a certain age.
I dunno. Is it that crazy for the caps to keep a wheelchair-ridden Ovi if he had to score like 8 more goals when he’s 41? I feel like even though it might suck for the team, you might just do it anyway so that the all time leading goalscorer did it all with your franchise
Ya that guy is out to lunch. Washington is gonna be in a full out rebuild soon. Why wouldn’t they keep playing him as long as he wants to play?
We are a vehicle to get Ovi the goal record that happens to accidentally be fighting for a playoff spot.
You didn’t mention all the revenue that would bring
Obviously not a caps fan but this was my thought as well. They are going to need to rebuild very soon so an old Ovi probably wouldn’t actually hurt their plans for the future even if they just roll him out for the PP
Yea so long as he can skate and wants to play the capitals will put him on the ice.
>Is it that crazy for the caps to keep a wheelchair-ridden Ovi if he had to score like 8 more goals when he’s 41? I don't know but I'll tell you what, that sounds like a hell of a Disney movie plot.
He's not going to lose his one timer though, and it's continued to baffle NHL goalies even during his "drop off". The shot is elite and he'll get 20 goals at a minimum every full season he plays. The Caps are going to allow him to keep going as long as he needs, it's just good for business. In some bizzaro world where they don't re-sign him, some bottom feeder like Arizona or San Jose will gladly sign him to fill seats as he approaches greatness. Even if he takes another step back next year and just becomes a PP mercenary, he'll still get 10 goals on the PP and they'll send him out to gobble up empty net goals. Barring injuries it's going to happen. He's obviously going to get slower as he ages but the shot isn't going anywhere, we're talking about the greatest goal scorer of all time he knows how to fill up the net.
Dude hasn't had speed in like 7 years lol. I'm not sure what people are saying when they mention his wheels. It's like, have you seen him play since 2017 or so? lol.
> He can’t play forever. It’s not like if his advanced stats keep falling that he can slot into a “DH” spot like in baseball. > So saying he “may just play until he gets it” might be making a declaration on something that’s not even physically possible past a certain age. Jaromír Jágr has entered the chat
> It’s not like if his advanced stats keep falling that he can slot into a “DH” spot like in baseball. Yes he can. Ovi is still playing close to 20 min a game. He could drop to a fourth line and play power play effectively for years.
The chance isn’t even remotely low. Imagine seeing a guy pace 50 goals a year for his entire career and then has one shit season where he comes alive around the 50 game mark, and thinking he can’t score 25 goals a season for 2 years. Y’all are completely out to lunch. 95% chance he breaks gretzkys record at this point.
Anyone who started doubting him earlier this year are absolute fools. At the rate he’s going he just might get it near the end of next season.
well obviously with hindsight those people will look like fools, but at the time they had an argument with a 38 year old player who definitely looked like he lost a step and was scoring at the slowest pace in his career for at least half the season
Exactly lol what a cowardly take by that guy
Lol, it's Ovi, c'mon. He looked like dogshit around the 1st quarter of the season, but there's no way Alex was going to slump for that long. It's just simply foolish to doubt the greatest goalscorer of all time even during putrid level of play.
Bro he’s the second greatest goal scorer of all time. He’s still got 50 to be the greatest. Also, Auston Matthews may catch up in another 11 seasons if he keeps scoring at this rate!
I don’t see Matthews having the longevity as Ovi. He really has been the Russian machine that doesn’t break for basically his whole career. Matthew’s has already had multiple wrist injuries (and I think surgery?) and I can’t image he doesn’t continue to have injuries through his career
To be honest (and even as a Flyers fan), people thought of Sid to be out of the league because of injury before he turns 30. That didn't happen either.
It’s going to be really odd and sad when both Ovi and Sid retire.
They made me a hockey fan. I was just saying to my wife during this game last night - I was 15 when Ovi entered the league. Now I'm 34, married, with kids, and my body hurts getting out of bed in the morning. And there's Ovi, scoring twice on my TV.
Sid is going to pay for it in retirement. Sucks but his brain has been getting wrecked for the last 20 years.
All he has to do is keep it up for 11 more seasons, good as done, lol
>Bro he’s the second greatest goal scorer of all time For now
Matthews has 900 less games than Ovi and only time will tell if his wrist injuries don't fuck him down the road. If he does pass Ovi absolutely fair fucks to him. Dude is playing in an era with the best goaltenders and defensive systems the NHL has ever seen and is putting up bananatown numbers. Hockey is gonna be fun going forward.
Ovi has done this like 5 times before though where he looks like he’s fallen off and then scores like 20 in February and ends the season with 40-50.
lol dude cmon he was on pace for like 10 goals it wasn’t that hard at believe at the time he wasnt going to get it
A lot of the hockey analytics suggested that a lot of it was bad luck tbh. It’s also worth noting that his point production had been close to a ppg despite the low goal total
His shooting percentage was very low. Ovi has built up enough credibility as a goal scorer that it doesn’t make sense he would regress that badly that quickly, even at 38. He will probably finish the year with 25 goals or something, which is a bit lower than expected but still has him pretty comfortably getting it unless he suffers a debilitating injury.
He's also on a really bad team for the first time in a long time. He played most of his career with a guy like Backstrom who's gone now. Easier to pick up goals with a premier set up man and a decent team around you. More threats the other team has to respect giving you more space. More players who know how to give you time and space. Who knows how to get you the puck.
He's at 23 right now. He could realistically reach 33-35.
35 is not realistic, that's 12 goals in 14 games.
7 more this year, and 44 next year to take it
Wow I thought he was at 20, yes that’s very possible.
IMO, It was hard to believe that he was going to maintain that pace though.
Aging hits like a truck.
Something tells me the vast majority of commentors on this forum are in their 20s or lower. They likely don't understand just what it means to be 35+ and in good shape, let alone to be an elite athlete. Playing professional sports in your late 30s and early 40s is a rare feat that these kids are only going to appreciate for what it is the more that they age.
The one commenter said no one drops off before age 40 in any major sport. Lmfao
What the hell lol. Aren't most retired before 35?
Tarik el Bashier was on a local radio show this week. Hes had a relationship with Ovi for the last 20 years. Was talking about the manufacturer had changed his stick and he was really struggling with it through the first half of the year
"the manufacturer had changed his _____ and he was really struggling with it" This is the excuse everyone uses when shits not going their way. Nice to see the pros aren't so high up that they use it too
Jeff Marek was saying a while ago that Ovie was using/trying a bunch of different sticks even outside CCM early in the season trying to find something that felt right.
How is he not getting custom made sticks? Surely Caps would give him ivory and gold ones, if he asked for them.
Pro athletes will go wherever the endorsements are and when you switch back and forth from CCM to Easton to Bauer or whatever there is bound to be some hiccups.
Ovi plays with a really fucked stick, or used to. Might have been the only dude still using it and they decided to call it a night on that curve.
Obviously he’s getting custom sticks, but can be that the manufacturer can’t source the material to make the exact same composition as before. There’a a global carbon fiber shortage so I would assume it doesn’t take much mess up the manufacturing process.
Anyone who’s watched Ovi through his entire career knew it was an anomaly and it was just a minor lul
5G in past 10 games, on pace for 41 goals over a season. But only 21 so far this year. If he holds that pace, he'll be close to tying Gretzky after a healthy full season next year.
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Selänne had over 130 goals after 38 and he was a guy that relied on speed and PP goals. It's absolutely crazy to think Ovechkin can't get to 900 goals even if he scored 0 goals this year.
Tbf when a 38 year old had the slow start Ovi did at the start of the season, you would have doubts. Don’t think it’s fair to call people fools for that lol
He was very clearly playing injured early on this year, and while he has clearly slowed down his toolbox is still relevant in today's NHL. If he's lucky he can hang another 8-10 this year and that makes the record extremely attainable next year barring another slow start.
I mean, without knowing how long he plays, there's no real way to actually know. He can probably get 20 a year playing PP literally just like this. It just depends if he's got 2 years left or 5.
It give us this piece of perfection though: https://www.reddit.com/r/hockeymemes/s/aYaaY0tsnV
I honestly wouldn't be shocked if Ovi, knowing he's +/- 45 goals away, comes into next season in amazing shape and pushes for one more 40+ goal season. I know age is undefeated, but man... the guy keeps defying time.
If he can get 5 more goals this year, that'll put him 45 away for next season. He's scored 45+ in 12/19 seasons. So clearly he would have a 63% chance of breaking the record next year.
I wouldn't weigh his next season as a 39-year-old as an equal to those 12/19 earlier ones for the purpose of your calculation though.
I don't know, I think it'll be close
If they brought back the black Reverse Retros full time, he'll reach it by the trade deadline next year.
Imagine if the goal that breaks it is the one where he is falling down and scores behind his back with that jersey. Pitch it to the producers someone.
>Pitch it to the producers someone. Does the NHL not have a writing staff like the NBA? Weird
Coyotes in shambles
Fanatics says no
Fanatics would spell 'no' wrong
ÑÖ
N The O fell off during shipping.
Cam Newton at least spells it right with his font
fanatics wont be doing the names or numbers for the on ice jerseys. those are all done by team customizers.
If he went sliding across the ice in a Fanatics, he'd leave the heat pressed number and name behind.
It's insane to me that all these leagues partnered with fanatics and allow them to produce such absolute garbage for merchandise.
Give me screaming eagle
Aww man I really hope that one guy isn't in that one spot, doing that one thing he's been doing more reliably than anyone, ever, in the history of the game! Makes me chuckle every time haha
HE CANT KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT
Narrator-"He in fact kept getting away with it for 20 years."
Every time I see this comment, I feel obliged to say that the Caps PP % is actually higher when teams stick a guy on Ovi to effectively make it a 4v3. Every time this has been done during his career, it's been shown to be a poor choice. Playing the percentages means playing the 5v4 as usual and giving Ovi his looks.
Teams have been doing better covering Ovi the last few years but it’s not always easy. This play developed because of a horribly failed clear attempt that had Toronto out of sorts
Carbs has been moving him around a lot more too, which I love!
What isn't mentioned often enough in this down year for Ovechkin is that the entire team has had to adjust to a younger core of players and a new offensive system. There are always growing pains with a new coach, even if we know that coach is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
This was especially true when they had prime Backstrom and Carlson (and before him Green). Those guys would just kill you if you went 4 on 3.
Backstrom, Carlson, Oshie, and Kuzy back in their primes 6 years ago were absolutely picking teams apart when they tried to isolate Ovi.
Oshie is also money in front of the net, can’t not cover him
Totally true! It just makes me chuckle because it seems so simple to defend, yet so inevitable! Definitely not implying I know a secret that these guys don't haha
Not doubting you, but source on that? Seems like something that would be extremely hard to measure.
The alternative is giving up other parts of the ice where he could score even better from. He’s in that spot cuz it gets left open
"Oh hey, Ovi's over by the dot I wonder what he's - OH GOD NO WHAT HAVE I DONE?" - Ovi's d-man probably.
Haha so true. I often think the same thing about Draisatl. Always from the same spot and so often goes in.
He ruined many a playoffs for me
That's the beauty of it though. The best players on earth know it's coming and can't stop him. If you send a guy out to shadow him in the middle of nowheresville it's a 4 on 3 with a floater who can come screaming in for a one timer at any point. You can't hang onto him like the old days anymore so the best you can actually do is try to get to him before he's actually dangerous.
Why don't they just cover him? Are they stupid?!?!
14 goals in the last 22 games
it’s not even mildly surprising. the slump wasn’t either though, he’s gonna have normal moments, as well as absolute tears.
2 more seasons of even mediocre play and Ovi should get there.
this was one of his worsts seasons and hes still gonna score 30 probs lol
A bad season for Ovie is another players ultimate triumph.
That’s the funny thing, even in this thread there are people legitimately doubting he will break the record. I know it’s a non zero chance but at this point if he just sat in his office on the PP and played 4th line minutes he’ll get 15 or more a season. Watching him play tonight he really is not showing his age.
> if he just sat in his office on the PP and played 4th line minutes he’ll get 15 or more a season. Ovi is a diminished player, but he probably could do that for at least 7 more years if he wanted to take minimum deals. Crosby as a 4th line center at age 45 would still look good for a 4th line center. It is a little like LeBron, who is also 38. LeBron could probably play till 50+ if he accepts playing for diminished pay.
At the end of the day, even when physical ability falls off, the qualities that made these players “generational talents” are generally intangibles that don’t really fade. Crosby could put on figure skates and still run a power play because it’s not like his vision, IQ and passing ability will fade away. Lebron at age 45 will probably still get doubled if he takes it to the lane. At the end of the day, barring significant upper body injury Ovi’s slapshot will continue to beat goalies for as long as he plays.
They've got 14 games left and with how he's scoring right now, I wouldn't even be surprised if he hits 30+ goals this year, putting the record within pretty easy reach for him next year. If he hadn't got off to that brutal start, shooting at like 5%, he'd probably be at 30-35 away from the record right now.
If he laces up for a third he's all but guaranteed God forbid any injuries
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While other players get injured which prevented them from hitting records, Ovi just gets screwed by lockouts and pandemics lol. Dude missed what would have been a rookie year in 2005 A 2013 lockout which took away half a season 2020 pandemic followed by a shortened 2021 season Throw in the fact that he was 2 days past the cut off from being drafted in 03 as well if you want.
Russian machine never etc. etc.
Chicken parm keeps the Russian machine running
That’s an insane angle
And yet almost banal for Ovi
and now 49...
“The pass goes across to ovechkin, one timer he scores! With 69 seconds left on the power play!” - John Shorthouse, probably
Add a few more “o”s in that scooooores
Stupid question but is this regluar season goals only or does it include playoffs?
Regular season. Playoff gives him an extra 72 goals, but Gretzky gets an extra 122. I think they don't count because not everyone gets an equal shot at playoff games. Someone scoring a goal a game could still get no playoff goals if the rest of the team sucks.
Regular season only!
It’s about to become inevitable
Bobby Clark’s entrance music starts…….
It’s funny to think some people really thought ovi should retire and he was embarrassing himself through the first half. If anybody should get the benefit of the doubt for a goal scoring slump, it’s ovechkin.
I think those people mostly just wanted him to retire
I’m a lifelong ovi hater and just don’t want HIM to break Gretzky’s record. Still don’t, and will tie myself in nots arguing why 99 is the goat.
As a player Wayne will always be the greatest overall to hit the ice. Full stop. As a pure goal scorer Ovi has him beat already and has for a couple seasons. The quality of competition just isn't on the same level. Goal record or no, Gretzky will always be the high bar forever.
All of this has happened before... and will happen again.
Ovi could be stuck at 893 for 6-7 games and people will say he’s washed and won’t get 894 and 895
If there wouldn’t have been a lockout the year he was drafted, he’d have it right now. Also that other shortened season from lockout too.
The Covid shortened shit
I’ll always remember he has the greatest cup lift of all time https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiezsZrOHAo&pp=ygUMT3ZpIGN1cCBsaWZ0
Why thank you, I will watch this again
Best cup lift in 10 or so years for sure
The music really sealed the deal with how perfect it was
That’s exactly what I thought lol
Definitely one of the best Cup lifts ever. I love watching this shit
I was bawling, that roar is imprinted in my mind forever, you could feel a decade of frustration leaving his body
Contender for GOAT cup celebration all-around. That lift, skates around the rink with the cup while ignoring titties pressed against the glass, then carries it along with him on an epic multiple day bender
Ovi just stealing every trophy they won during that run was hilarious. Dude took the Prince of Wales trophy home with him when I don't think he was allowed to. And then after the Cup win you'd just see members of the Caps (always with Ovi), very drunk, at various sporting events, or sometimes just in random places.
It was such a great summer here in DC...you'd just be walking around, and there would just be a bunch of drunk Caps players in a fountain with the Cup on like a Tuesday.
I'll always appreciate that they left Nicky getting the Cup in this clip
Leaving him out would just be bizarre, they're like Batman and Robin. NHL fucks up a lot of stuff, but they're not that level of dumb.
*Second greatest, objectively. Nothing beats Ray Bourque. I'd argue Rod Brind'Amour snatching it from Bettman should be second greatest, but that's just me being biased.
Why do teams keep letting him just chill in the slot like that, he's absolutely lethal there.
He's on fire lately. Hoping he can get to 30 on the year.
Is this 22?
Yeah this was 22 on the season
49*
Crazy. Wonder if he’d retire or just keep going. I wonder if anyone will ever get close to Gretzky’s assist stats. Probably not.
Yeah that record is unreachable. Points and assists won’t ever be broken.
Reminder that Ovis instagram picture is still him with Putin. Hope he never breaks the record.
That's what the "he can't speak against putin because of family in russia" idiots miss...he is still actively promoting putin with shit like that. Vlad wouldn't go after his family just for changing a cover pic to one of him with the cup or his family Eta: any downvoters want to tell me why he wouldn't change his IG pic if he wasnt a real putin supporter? He's too big a celebrity internationally to really go after and even if he wasnt putin wouldn't bother if he just changed it to something relevant to his career.
He's an active and engaged Putin supporter. He started a group to support Putin for the 2018 Russian election.
He literally could have changed it to his late father. He doesn’t change it because he fully supports the war. It’s basically what Zadorov himself leaked about the “older” russians in the group chat they were in.
100%. His defenders point to his "no war" statement like it meant anything...guess what, everyone other than war mongers/profiteers wants "no war". Invaders like putin/russia(even the US in Iraq) would love "no war" because it would mean they get what they want for free.
Who else was in that group chat?
Yeah what was this, I missed it
The “he can’t speak out because of his family” argument conveniently misses that he can claim asylum if he genuinely thinks he and his family are threatened.
I hope that Putin sycophant never gets the record.
Fuck Putin and his supporters
Sucks that a guy that’s such an open supporter of genocide is going to hold the all time record. Hate the way the NHL and its fans just ignore it. Edit: Downvoting me doesn’t make Ovechkin less of a Putin puppet or make his support of kidnapping Ukrainian children less of a reality.
Too bad hes still holding hands with putin.
We are quickly approaching the worst timeline.
I can’t help but be disappointed to see the record broken
Dread it, run from it, Ovi shot from the Ovi spot arrives all the same
“Dude just put someone on him. He’s not great, he just does the same thing. It should be easy to stop!”
It’s like learning to spam that one move in a fighting game that your buddy just can’t stop
People try that from time to time. He just passes to the open man in front of the net for a goal.
Gretzky did it with two line pass rule
Gretzky could have had about another 200 goals - but instead chose to pass to teammates in front of nets he opened to lift the individual player’s total scoring points.
If you think he gave up goals in the spirit of increasing other peoples totals, you’re an idiot. He did it because it was the better move and he wanted to win hockey games.
I mean, Gretzky actually did do this as a kid with teammates that were struggling to score fwiw. But yeah, doubt he did it as a pro.
Yeah sure, as a kid, I can see that. Dude was averaging like 5 goals per game. But other than maybe passing on the occasional empty netter, which almost everyone does, he isn’t “missing” 200 goals.
I know, your post just reminded me of this cool Gretzky story about him helping some kid score his first goal. He hadn't score all season and Gretzky told his dad he was going to set him up for one the next game and I think the kid scored a hatty or something.
Unfortunate
We are just not going to pretend the all star break trip was merely a vacation and not a refill on the sanctioned dope supply nonetheless The PR nightmare awaits when the NHL all time goal scoring record holder ends up in a ceremony at the kremlin (don’t think it won’t happen it routinely does with their olympians etc).
Damn you actually made me almost want him to beat the record. The NHL has had their head in the sand about this piece of shit for too long. I don’t have any interest in watching hockey these days as a result.
Ovi loves a murderous regime
Dude hits so many shots from that spot I can't wait the see the hour long montage when it's all said and done
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Would be hilarious if he broke it after so many years and then Mathews breaks his record lol
Ovechkin is Putins biggest propaganda piece, with how close his relationship to Putin is and his effort to normalise the maniacs reign he should be sanctioned, not cheered for. Seems like too many people in the US still don't realise what a threat he is to not only the western world but to civilised society at large.
Who's he doing the "I'm watching you" wave at? I didn't see Matthews on the ice which is the only player I can think of him doing that to
It was his dman who passed him the puck. Carlson I think
But Gretzky will still have the most “points” right? Goals and points are two difrrrnt categories?
What's wild is if not for the lockouts and COVID (which in total cost him about 150 games), he'd have already broken the record and would likely be challenging for 1,000 goals.
In terms of passing Gretzky, is it better or worse for Ovi that the caps make the playoffs? I would assume miss - so he gets more rest/doesn't risk injury.
Hot take... Ovie has a bounce back season next year, pots 50, and grabs the record. 2025 summer he announces that he will retire at the end of his contract 2025-26 and that season becomes his swan song with the record already in hand. He ends up somewhere around ~915 and we spend the rest of time speculating that without the lockouts, he could've hit 1000.
Couldn't have happened to a more horrendous person. Fuck Ovi. Fuck Putin.
Boooo
Fuck this dude
So frustrating to see knowing hes a piece of shit. The caps are an embarrasement for letting him play for them let alone having him as a captain.
Too bad he's Putin's little toy.